


Alls Well that Ends Well

by Griffindork



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: F/F, Grief/Mourning, Love, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-09-29 14:00:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20437193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Griffindork/pseuds/Griffindork
Summary: Vanessa stands on the small patio, her back to Charity, arms wrapped around herself.





	Alls Well that Ends Well

**Author's Note:**

> This is set at some nebulous point between them moving into Joacob's Fold and now.

It’s dark enough in the village that the street lights have switched themselves on and beyond the perimeter of Main Street there’s nothing but a thick sheet of black. Charity strolls home through the dark, winding through the polka dots of light scattering the floor. A part of her feels odd, locking the pub up for the night on the wrong side of the door. She’d never really contemplated ever moving out of the Woolpack, somewhere in the back of her mind was an image of her and Chas, grey and stooped, still stood behind that bar.

But then she reaches the sloped path up to her new house, their new home, and she looks up and the light of her bedroom is still on and it outshines the wrinkled Chas sat in her mind. Vanessa takes her place, thinning grey hair on top of her head and glasses with a permanence she can no longer fight that sit on her face, a chain wrapped around her neck. She smiles and Charity’s stomach still tickles with butterflies.

She locks the door behind her gently and pauses for a second, head bumping against the wood. Jacobs Fold offers a silence the Woolpack can never really manage, even when there’s not a single customer under the roof. It’s weird not to have Paddy’s snores thundering down the hall or to have some argument brewing stormily in the corner. When she pushes up the door creaks in protest and she sends a warning glance to it before she makes cursory checks that their new landing zone is locked down for the night. The back door is ajar when she gets to it, whispered notes of a guitar dancing their way through the gap left.

Frowning, she pulls it open and the strings rise to her ears in a tune she recognises. Vanessa stands on the small patio, her back to Charity, arms wrapped around herself. It’s barely big enough to fit the table and chairs they’ve managed to squeeze there, just on the off chance they manage to get a quiet evening to themselves. Now, there’s an empty bottle of wine in the centre and Vanessa’s phone beside it, lit up with the music lilting the air around them.

Charity sighs, sliding forward to wrap her arms around Vanessa’s middle, her hands finding Vanessa’s cold fingertips and working the tension from them enough to allow their hands to intertwine.

“I didn’t hear you come in.” Vanessa murmurs, turning her face into Charity, her forehead coming to rest against Charity’s temple.

“Didn’t want to wake you.” Charity shrugs. She pulls Vanessa in closer to her, trying to stay away the cold chill she feels on Vanessa’s skin. “How long have you been out here?”

Vanessa shrugs nonchalantly, eyes slipping closed as she folds her weight into Charity’s hold a bit more, her fingers gripping tighter to Charity’s. Charity’s eyes find the empty bottle of wine but no glass, and she looks back into the darkness of their house and she knows Faith was supposed to be in tonight so where is she. What’s the point of putting up with her being more hassle than the kids if she’s not going to be useful.

“Don’t get irate.” Vanessa smiles into her cheek.

“Me?” Charity deadpans. “Never.”

Vanessa just hums and she pulls back to look at Charity proper. “How was work?”

“Not as good as your night by the looks of it.” She pulls back to grab the bottle and brandish it towards Vanessa’s eye roll. “Not even a glass in sight. That’s classy that, babe.”

“I thought about getting a glass.” Vanessa answers slowly. “But that’s more washing up.” She ends in another shrug, eyes slipping out of focus for a second.

“I am sure that’s supposed to be my line.” Charity slides her hands back around Vanessa’s hips, pulling her in closer again. She hisses as Vanessa’s still cold hands slip under her shirt and scratch just lightly at her stomach. “Want to talk about why you’re standing out here, all alone and drinking yourself stupid?”

“I’ve only had a few glasses.” Vanessa defends herself, nails scratching a little harder in reprimand. “You drank most of that the other day.”

“I remember.” Charity winks and she marvels at the way Vanessa’s jaw drops just a bit breathless at the memory of their afternoon alone. “But as much as I would love to reminisce about the other night, I’ve just come home to find my fiance getting drunk alone and I’m a little bit worried about it.”

“You don’t have to worry about me, Charity.”

“But I do.” Charity protests and sighs as she feels Vanessa’s lips tickle at her neck.

Vanessa shakes her head as though to shake away the worries still plaguing Charity’s mind and she steps closer, hands gliding over her back, and before Charity knows it they’re swaying in the patch of light that spills from a bedroom upstairs.

She lets the words on the tip of her tongue tumble away and the music lilt around them, shrouding them from the rest of the world. It could be days for all Charity cares, that they stand there, her head resting on top of Vanessa’s and both of their eyes closed against anything but each other.

Vanessa’s hands rub up and down her back in familiar patterns that draw her in and draw her out. Somewhere along the way Vanessa beings to hum along in her ear and the noise vibrates down her spine soothingly.

“I love you.” Charity swears into the night and her hands grasp tighter at the emotion that clogs her throat after the admission. She can’t imagine her life without holding Vanessa like this, sinking into her touch like a craving.

Vanessa pulls back to smile at her, lips pulling up with so much love that Charity feels it in her bones. One of Vanessa’s hands leaves her back and Charity misses it desperately until gentle fingers are pushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear and then tangling in the hairs at the nape of her neck.

Blue eyes close again and her forehead drops to rest against Charity’s in contentment. “I just need this.” Charity feels fingers flex in her hair the same way the fingers flex against her hip against her skin. She watches intently as Vanessa’s jaw flexes, biting back whatever emotion had been rising.

“Okay.” Charity swears. She kisses the very tip of Vanessa’s nose, feather light. “Okay.” She breathes again and it’s a promise.

**Author's Note:**

> @dinglefields


End file.
